Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, our Father, and Jesus Christ. Welcome to my blog! I hope the thoughts you find here will encourage you and inspire you to diligently seek God’s Kingdom. This week was week three of Women’s Month at In His Presence Family Worship Center (IHP), and again, it was a privilege to be in the room with such powerful women. It was an opportunity to hear some of the gifts that God has placed in our midst. This week’s gift was Pastor Alva T Allen. She was our speaker for the morning. Pastor Alva Allen is a pillar of our church, and we thank God for her and her ministry. She took the time to bring tension from the word of God, during a month where the theme is Rest for Your Soul, Pastor Allen told us that some of our unrest is a result of our own disobedience. Let’s look at one of the texts that Pastor shared with us.
Jer. 6:16 Thus says the LORD: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, “We will not walk in it.” NRSV
Pastor Allen taught that “disobedience to God’s directives causes unrest.” The text gives a clear mandate from God that tells us that obedience to his word gives us “rest for your souls.” With that said, she defined “soul” for us. Biblically, the soul is the place where decisions are made. It is the seat of reason, logic, the mind, and the like. This is why a troubled soul can look like depression, negative thinking, and poor attitudes. Imagine that we can avert much of the negativity by trusting God implicitly. Here is how we should do it.
Look and ask for the ancient path. There is often a good reason why ancient things persist. The path that was here when you got here and is still here serves a purpose bigger than you or your problem. The ancient ways, or path, often mean they derive from God and are determined to be profitable to those who would obey them. I remember a pastor saying once:
“There is a difference between tradition and traditionalism. Tradition is the living voice of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead voice of the living.”
The living voice of God telling us our new way will not work is the very fabric of wisdom, and we would do well to obey it. We should prefer and inquire about the old ways rather than the stuff we come up with, especially when those ways do not include the word of God. For example, it is still better to get married than to live together. It is still better to invest wisely than to follow an unproven trend.
The ancient path is where the “good way lies.” I want to know that when I make a decision about my life, my career, even my church, I want to choose the path where the “good way lies.” When I find that good way, I need to walk in it. Beloved, I have walked a bunch of paths that I thought would work. The one thing these wrong paths had in common is that I did not seek God for direction. Not only did I end up in places I never wanted to be, I discovered that I found “no rest” there.
Beloved, do not be that believer who tells God no, I do not want to obey you, and I want to find my own path. I want to walk in a way that affords me the privilege of God’s rest. Walk in God’s rest for your soul.
Again, I would like to invite you to subscribe to the blog. I endeavor to post regularly, with an entry every Tuesday. You can subscribe at the bottom of this page.
Remember to invite someone to church with you this Sunday. I would like to extend a special invitation to join us at In His Presence Family Worship Center this Sunday at our new home. That’s right, we have moved into our own building. Join me at IHP. Remember, this is Women’s Month. We now meet at 11 Woods Place, (formerly Johnsons Place) in Brooklyn, NY. Join us at 10 a.m. I look forward to seeing you there. Seek God’s Kingdom first. And, visit our website to get more information about In His Presence Family Worship Center.
Yours Because I am His,
Leo Colon, D.Min., M.Div.,
In His Presence Family Worship Center
Pastor Leo Colon's Blog 
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